

2025–2025 · ITVX · Ended
Told over two parallel timelines, A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story reveals secret truths about the case which have remained hidden for decades, poses tantalising questions about what really happened in the months before Ruth killed her lover David Blakely, and sheds light on the life of one of Britain's most infamous murderesses.The drama depicts Ruth's entry into a dizzying upper class London world that promises so much, but ultimately delivers treachery. We follow her glamorous lifestyle as a young nightclub manageress, her abusive relationship with the man she later gunned down in cold blood, her arrest, trial and the subsequent legal fight to reprieve her before she was hanged by infamous hangman, Albert Pierrepoint, in Holloway Prison, aged just 28.
This series has ended.
Last aired
S01E04 · Episode 4
2025-03-05
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Episode 1
2025-03-05 · 48 min
Episode 2
2025-03-05 · 46 min
Episode 3
2025-03-05 · 47 min
Episode 4
2025-03-05 · 46 min
Audrey Brisson
Jacqueline Dyer
What happened to the real Ruth Ellis? True story behind ITV drama
Radio Times · Jul 8, 2026
'A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story' Review: Lucy Boynton Shines
Variety · Feb 17, 2025
A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story review – the sad, shocking tale of the last woman to be hanged in Britain
The Guardian · Mar 5, 2025
Lucy Boynton On ‘A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story’: ‘I Hope It Forces Us To Examine Our Judicial System And How It Treats Women’
Forbes · Feb 27, 2025
‘A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story,’ About the Last Woman Hanged in Britain, Started With an Email
The Hollywood Reporter · Feb 20, 2025
Who Was Ruth Ellis? Learn the True Story Behind BritBox’s ‘A Cruel Love’
TV Insider · Feb 16, 2025
'A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story' BritBox Review: Stream It Or Skip ti?
Decider · Feb 21, 2025
ITV’s drama about the UK’s last executed woman will make you shudder – and sympathise
The Independent · Mar 5, 2025
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